Cultivator



v (No Model.)

0;. w POST.

UULTIVATOR.

Pa'ltexited Mar. 11, 1884.

11 r k v I VV EvV M Mz WW? I. 1!.11 2 111 1111' E Wiineas as.

TATES NiTEn CHARLES \V. POST, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

CULTfVATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 294,806, dated March 11, 1884.

Application filed September 14,1883. (NomodelJ I To all whom it play concern Be it known that I, CHARLES W. Pos'r, a citizen of the United States, residingin Springfield, county of .Sangamon, and State of Illinois, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Cultivators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in cultivators in which the short axles located at the sides of the arch are hinged or other wise hung so as to be capable of an independent lateral movement while the machine is being drawn over the ground, and in which the beams carrying the shovels are susceptible of lateral adjustment and a vertical tilt or play.

The objects of my invention are to provide means which, while allowing free lateral swing on the part of each axle, shall, when the tugs are slackened up, automatically right and hold in proper position the axles and wheels, and prevent the latter from swinging round to the front or back; also, to provide improved means for supporting the arch upon the axle and for allowing a vertical adjustment of the arch and a lateral swing or play of the axles.

A further object is to provide novel means for allowing the beams carrying the shovels 'to-have both a lateral adjustment and avertical tilt or play, and at the same time prevent the machine from falling down; finally, to provide certain improved details of construction, all as hereinafter described and claimed, and illustrated in the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective View, showing one of the short axles and a part of the arch. with the intermediate devices constructed and arranged in accordance .with my invention, it being understood that the same construction and arrangement of devices will be employed in connection with the axle and the arch at the opposite side of the latter. Fig. 2 shows on an enlarged scale a section taken transversely through one end of the arch and one of the blocks to which the arch is secured, and upon which the beams have a bearing, said beams being shown in cross-section. Fig. 3 is a top view of the bifurcated and slotted end of a beam. Fig. 4 is a section taken longitudinally through Fig. 1; Fig. 5, a'plan view of draftrod and its supportingarm.

The arch A is composed of two parallel bars, a, of ribbed steel, held apart by blocks 1), through which and the bars are passed bolts 0, clamping the bars and blocks firmly toget-her, so as to form an open double arch,

.which, for obvious reasons, is stronger and more rigid, hence less liable to twist, than if the bars were secured face to face. At each end or base portion of the double arch the bars of ribbed steel, of which it is composed, receive between them a metal .block, B, provided in its vertical sides with-substantially rectangular channels B, in which the ribbed steelbars are fitted, and held by means of bolts'or rivets passing through the said bars and block. This metal block is provided at its outer end with a socket, 13", formed with a vertical bore extending from end to end of the socket, and adapted to receive a vertically adjustable sleeve, 0, which is secured in its adjustment within the socket by means of a set-screw, D, passing through an opening in the side of the socket. This sleeve constitutes an adjustable connection between the short axle E and the socket that is rigid with the arch, the axle being formed or provided at its inner end with a yoke, E, having two eyes, 1r, which are respectively fitted against the ends of the sleeve. XVhile this sleeve is capable of being held rigid with the socket by means of the setscrew, the yoke carrying the short axle is capable of turning upon the sleeve, and to such end is hinged on said sleeve, so as to swing lat erally, by means of a belt or pintle, F, passing through the sleeve and through the eyes of the yoke. The eyes of this yoke are embraced by the edges of an outer yoke, G, through which the bolt F also passes, this said outeryoke or fork being formed with a hooked draftrod, G, to which the usual single-tree is connected. The bolt can be conveniently formed with a head at one end, and. at its opposite end provided with a transversehole for a pin,

whereby the bolt shall be prevented from,

working out, and the several members that are fitted to turn upon the bolt also held together. By loosening the set-screw in the socket, the sleeve can be moved up or down, and consequently the frame and beams, with their shov- .from the hub.

els, can be adjusted vertically, and afterward secured in their adjustment by tightening up the set-screw. .To sustain the outer end of the axle, a bent arm, E, is secured thereto by a collar, E, cast or shrunk on the axle beyond the hub of the wheel and screwed into the draft rod G, near its forward end. Casting or shrinking the collar on the axle excludes dirt As a means for causing the axles to normally stand out at right angles from the sides of the machine after the tugs have been slackened up, and at the same time to allow the required lateral movement of either axle while the machine is in operation, the arm of the yoke E, carrying the axle, is extended above its upper eye, and then bent inwardly to form an arm, G, in which is secured a suitable casting, G, having a seat for the outer end of a spring, II, that is secured at its inner end to the arch. This casting is conveniently made with a head having a notch in which the spring rests, and with a shank passing through the yoke-arm, and provided with a nut, by means of which the casting can be pivoted firmly upon the yoke. It is of course understood that the devices herein shown are duplicated at the other side of the arch, and hence the springs will exert a force tending to maintain the wheels parallel with each other and with the row when there are any inequalities of the ground over which the wheels pass, and by the same force will, when the cultivator is at rest and the tags slackened up, hold the wheels substantially parallel and prevent their swinging round and doubling or converging toward each other. The blocks 13, to which the ends of the arch are secured, are each provided upon their top and bottom edges with a series of bosses, B, which constitute upper and lowerseats for the ends of the forks on the forward ends of the beams. The forked end of a beam, 11, is held upon a pair of these seats means of a bolt, K, passing through the bosses and the blocks, a vertical passage for said bolt being formed through the blocks at each interval where two bosses, respectively located on opposite sides of the block, occur, whereby, bytaking out the bolt, the beam can be shifted laterally from one pair of seats to another, and-hence the beams can be adjusted with reference to the distance to clear the rows. The bolt, which is prevented from dropping out by a pin, K", removably fitted in a hole in one end of the bolt, passes through slots L, formed in the forks of the beam, and the seats or ends of the bosses on the block are somewhat rounded, so that when the beam is thus connected with the block it shall be susceptible of a limited vertical play or tilting movement upon the slots, thereby allowing the beam to tilt and the shovel to ad just itself to inequalities of the ground, while at the same time the arch is prevented from falling more than a limited distance either forward or backward.

It will be seen that the two bars of ribbed steel constitute a lightstrong arch, and that the recessed blocks to which they are secured stiffen and strengthen the lower ends of the arch, and admit of sockets being formed both for the adjustable sleeves and for the bolt, about which both the axles and the draft-bars can turn.

Pivotcd upon the arch by means of a bolt or other suitable device is a hang-up arm, L, having attached thereto a short chain, M, for attachment to the beams, to hold them up out of their operative position. Arm L is provided with a U shaped bend terminating in a rightangular bend, X, which, when the arm is in its operative position, catches upon the outer side of the arch and locks the arm against a forward pressure of the beam. W'hen not in use, the angular bend may be detached from the arch, when it will swing to a vertical position out of the way.

In conclusion, it may be stated that the several parts herein may be constructed and arranged in a different manner without a substantial departure from the invention herein involvedas, for instance, the spring may be rigidly secured to some other portion of the caltivator-frame than the arch, and instead of being straight maybe curved, helical, or elliptic, and yet have all the functions herein described; and so far as the joint operation of the spring, the pivoted axle, and the draft-rod are concerned the same result could be obtained if the arch were single and the bearings for the beam were formed on the arch or connected therewith in the usual manner; nor is the tilt ing movement of the beam, which is attained by slotting its bifurcated ends and employing the rounded bosses, dependent upon the fact that the casting B is a separate piece from the arch, or is joined thereto in a particular manner, nor upon the particular manner by which the arch and axle are joined; and it will be no departure from my invention to pivot the draft-rod at some other point, or to attach its supporting-lever (i to some other portion of the machine than the axle. However, the construction shown and described is preferred, because by it the best aggregate results are attained, and because it involves simplicity and eheapness in construction.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. A cultivator-arch and the axle end thereof, composed of continuous parallel bars separated by intermediate blocks, said bars and blocks being secured together by bolts, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the beams and with the arch of a cultivator, of blocks rigidly secured to the axle ends of the arch, and forming bearings for said beams, substantially as described.

8. The combination of the beams and arch of a cultivator with a block secured to the axle end of said arch, and forming a connec IIO ' a vertical tilt or play, substantially as detion of the beams thereto, said block having one or more distinct bearings providing for a lateral adjustment of said beams, substantially as described.

4. In a cultivator, the combination, with the beams, of perforated bearing-blocks having one or more projecting conical seats or bosses, providing for a tilting movement of the beams, substantially as described.

5. The beam provided with a forked end, having slots in the ends of its fork, in combination with the block rigidly secured at one end of the arch, and bolts passing through said blocks and slots, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the metal block formed with an upper and lower set of bosses, and rigidly secured at an end of the arch, of the beam having a forked and slotted end embracing an upper and lower boss, and a bolt passing through the block and its bosses, and also passing through the slots in the end of the beam, whereby the latter shall be capable of scribed.

7. The combination of the arch and an axle pivot-ally jointed thereto, with a flexible connection for exerting a force tending to maintain said arch and axle in alignment with each other, substantially as described.

8. The combination of the arch and an axle pivotally jointed thereto, with a spring connecting said arch and axle, substantially as described.

9. The combination of the arch and an axle pivotally jointed thereto, with a spring rigidly attached at one end to the arch, and at its other end having a shifting bearing in its attachment with the axle, substantially as described.

10. The arch, in combination with an axle o pivotally jointed thereto, and provided with a rigid arm having a slotted bearing, and extending above the pivot of the axle, and a spring, one end of which is rigidly secured, and the other end working in said bearing, substantially as described. v

11. The arch and the rigid bearing-block, in combination with the axle, and means, substantially as described, pivotally connecting andprovidin g for a vertical adjustment of the axle with the arch, as and for the purposes set forth.

12. The arch and the rigid bearing-block, in combination with the sleeve seated and vertically adjusted in said block, and a pivot embraced by said sleeve and forming a connecttion between the arch and the axle, substan tially as described.

13. The combination,with the draft-rod, the axle, the socket B and pivot-bolt connec-. ing said rod and axle, of a brace-rod rigidly, connecting the block, rod, and axle, substan- .tially as described.

, 14. The combination of the arch, the axle, the draft-rod, a pivot connecting said elements with each other on a concentric axis, and a flexible connection between the arch and axle, all substantially as described.

15. The combination, with the arch and the beams, of a bent hang-up arm, pivoted to the arch and provided with a right-angular bend, substantially as described.

CHARLES W. POST.

\Vitnesses:

J No; G. ELLIOTT, W. V. ELLIOTT. 

